Anne of Cleves, (born September 22, 1515—died July 16, 1557, London, England), fourth wife of King Henry VIII of England. Henry married Anne because he believed that he needed to form a political alliance with her brother, William, duke of Cleves, who was a leader of the Protestants of western Germany. He thought the alliance was necessary because in 1539 it appeared that the two major Roman Catholic powers, France and the Holy Roman Empire, were about to join together to attack Protestant England. That threat prompted Henry’s chief minister, Thomas Cromwell, to arrange the marriage to establish ties between England and the Lutheran enemies of the Holy Roman emperor, Charles V.

On January 1, 1540, Anne arrived in England to meet her fiancé for the first time. Five days later the wedding took place. Henry was keenly disappointed, Anne being less attractive than he had been led to expect, and he soon came to resent her lack of sophistication and her limited command of the English language.

Miniature portrait of Anne of Cleves, watercolour on vellum by Hans Holbein the Younger, in a …

When the alliance between the Catholic powers failed to materialize, the marriage became a political embarrassment and was annulled by an Anglican convocation (July 9, 1540). Anne acquiesced and was rewarded with a large income, on the condition that she remain in England. She lived at Richmond or Bletchingley, with occasional visits to court, until her death.

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Henry married thrice more, once for reasons of diplomacy, once for love, and once for peace and quiet. Anne of Cleves, his fourth wife, was the product of Reformation international politics. For a time in 1539 it looked as if Charles V and Francis would come to terms and unite against the schismatic king of England, and the only allies Henry possessed were the Lutheran princes of Germany. In...

...earlier. Henry immediately married Jane Seymour, who bore him his son Edward but died in childbirth (1537). The next three years were filled with attempts to replace her, and the bride chosen was Anne, sister of the duke of Cleves, a pawn in Cromwell’s policy for a northern European alliance against dangers from France and the Emperor. But Henry hated the first sight of her and at once...

In 1536, convinced by the dubious evidence of Anne’s alleged adulteries, he in turn invalidated that marriage; in 1540 he assisted in the freeing of Henry VIII from his fourth wife, Anne of Cleves; and in 1542 he was forced to be prominent in the proceedings that resulted in Catherine Howard’s execution for treasonable unchastity. There is no question that in these matrimonial politics he did...

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Anne of Cleves was the fourth wife of England’s King Henry VIII. They were married in January 1540, but by July of that year the king had decided to separate from his wife. Anne remained in England until her death.